Most people think ghosting back an image is pretty simple; hit the transperancy and let it go, but you can get better results with just a few little tweeks.

These are Photoshop based instructions but they work most anywhere.

First, you’ll want to over sharpen the image using Unsharp Mask. I usually us a setting of 300/.5/0 to get it crisp. Then create a new layer on top of your original and fill with white. Adjust the transparency of the white layer to ghost back your image. So if you want it 10% of the original image set the white layer transparency to 90%.

Then create an adjustment layer on top of that with Hue/Saturation. Bump the Saturation up between +20 & +30. This help brings some of the color back into the ghosted image by reducing contaminating colors.

I understand the want to add drama and tension to a story but adding absolutely wrong details just drives me nuts.

Physics doesn’t allow for a projectile to gain energy the farther it goes. It looses energy, both in velocity and in spin. Now some fun things do happen with bullets when they leave the barrel and some of it is counter intuitive. When a heavy projectile leaves the barrel @ some 2500fps it’s got some 2000 foot pounds of energy. That’s a ton of force or quite literally enough energy potentially to move a ton 1 foot. You’ll notice I say potentially as transferring that energy to the target is tricky business. At muzzle velocity a bullet is more likely to punch a clean hole through a target than do much damage. Even with the shock wave moving through a body it does little damage. Even a 5.56mm will punch a hole without transferring much of it’s energy to the target which is why they developed such projectiles as hollow points and wadcutters. Anyways, what makes this happen is the spin of the bullet and it’s cross sectional density/hardness. The spin imparts a longitudinal stability making it easier for the bullet to travel long distances accurately but conversely also makes it easier to punch through objects. Faster the spin, the less energy gets transferred to the target.

Still with me?

So with the spin helping keep the projectile ballistically stable it will also do it’s best to keep the projectile stable when passing through a target, hence less energy transfer.

Which is what it all really comes down to, energy transfer. Yes, once again, guns don’t kill people, physics does.

I’m angry. Not just mildly annoyed angry but near seeing red kind of angry. I feel like I’m constantly holding myself back from violently attacking something (or worse, someone). The stress of not doing so is making me exhausted, depressed and withdrawn.

Why am I angry?

Cancer.

And cancer treatment side effects.

Both of which I can do nothing to help with. I want to be doing something to help but all I can do is hold her hand and remind her to take her meds. I can’t think her way out of this, I can’t zap the side-effects away, I can’t even help stop the pain. I want to simultaneously scream, cry, and rage.

I’m also scared I’m not strong enough for this. That I’m going to crack. That I’m not going to be here for her.

Finally was able to replace my long dead G5 with a brand new 27″ iMac.

With advances in processors & ram I no longer need the brute size of a G5. This one is faster than anything I’ve had previously and has more RAM. Stunning to think about.

Next up is a large Wacom tablet so I can paint & re-touch on the computer much easier. Heck, with this size of screen I bet I could even run Painter with all the windows open and still have room to work in.

Honestly, I don’t care much for the art establishment as it is. Their focus is wrong, their attitude poor and their reason for existence weak.

Quantity over quality, schlock or taste. I just see so often that galleries go for something they can easily quantify rather than delve into the subject and figure it out. Why spend hours pouring over slides when you can just pick up some “outsider artist” and say they’re the next great thing. It’s easy.

And art shouldn’t be.

I know artists that pour every iota of their being into their work. Struggle and dwell over tiny things, things the average joe will never see but that doesn’t matter, because in the end it’s just what matters to the artist.

But do they get gallery time? Do collectors and curators search them out to tell them how their piece moved them? No, they don’t. Instead some jackass who farted on a piece of paper gets the publicity.

And yet still they struggle, why? Because they are artists and success is not necessarily their goal.

I was getting my hair cut the other day and was thinking about getting a stripe of pink put in. Not that I’m into pink but with the breast cancer bit I was looking for ways to show my support other than walking around with a blank stare.

The problem I realized is that I couldn’t just get it dyed pink. I’d want it dyed Breast Cancer pink, one of the 2 shades they use. Which is where the Pantone book came in.

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for my hair, I had neither a Pantone book on me nor the print specs for the BCA logo so my hair remains a brown with ever increasing levels of white.

I am… appalled and embarrassed that we have elected a pompous bigoted misogynistic narcissistic ass as president. It bugs the shit out of me that for a huge number of people sexual assault is not only “ok” but apparently fully accepted. Women who feel that being groped is welcome and … Continue reading →

“Good writing skills are an indicator of an organized mind which is capable of arranging information and argument in a systematic fashion and also helping (not making) other people understand things. It spills over into code, personal communications, instant messaging (for those long-distance collaborations), and even such esoteric concepts as … Continue reading →

@ the suggestion of a number of people I’m looking into getting a coloring book done. This would be of my abstract geometric designs, outlined to allow coloring. I’m going to attach links to several examples, cropped in, of what I’d like to do. Feel free to print them out, … Continue reading →

So you may or may not have followed Google’s Deep Dreaming but I have and am having a fun time with it. Not sure where I’d go with it but it is interesting. Here’s the app I’ve been using https://dreamscopeapp.com/

Trying out Dragon dictation. So far, I’m impressed and @ the very least it may help me enunciate better. I’ll get a sample so I can post it tomorrow or Monday. Feels a little weird because I’m not one to talk to myself out loud. Internally I do all the … Continue reading →

Well, I think I picked up a food born illness. Been nauseated since about 3. Nothing wants to come up or out so go figure. I hate getting fbi’s. Really not fond of feeling crampy & nauseated. Burping a lot to. So that’s it for #2.

Well I most assuredly did not start the new year off right. I made one resolution and that was to post something, anything, here every day for the entire year. Missed the first day so I’m going to do a twofer today. So you actually are seeing this post yesterday, … Continue reading →

I’ve been working on a book in my head for the last several months. My trouble has always been getting things onto paper (or screen as it be). Typically if I can visualize how to draw something in my head I can draw it. Writing on the other hand locks … Continue reading →